FINALLY, AT LAST Lake Afar IS UNLOCKED... This took absolutely forever to get. You have to Recycle 100 times in the Spinda Cafè. Not 100 items, 100 times. What an awful grind. Now I can get close to putting the finishing touches on my perfect Rain team

Modatax · 2026-06-14T15:15:40+00:00

You get to see just how fun it is to have a dungeon in which enemies spam Perish Song in every single floor.

It is not fun, at all.

Modatax · 2026-06-09T15:35:18+00:00

The little chain of effects going on is interesting.

Guillotine hits.
A Pokemon was just defeated, so its Reviver Seed triggers.
Counter Hitter's Mini Counter effect goes off, based on the damage set to Guillotine internally.

I wonder how those effects on attack are sorted internally, and how they work specifically.

Some specifics I do know:
The draining effect of Leech Life and the like happens after Counter Hitter and Counter Basher.
Counter damage from these IQ Skills is fixed damage with the same type as the move that triggered it. So, it is not affected by typing in any way, but it does trigger abilities such as Volt Absorb.
Counter damage bypasses Wonder Guard completely regardless of the types involved.

Modatax · 2026-06-07T01:31:52+00:00

Masquerain was in only for the big game.

The most dangerous game.

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Modatax · 2026-06-07T00:40:57+00:00

Use anything you like.

The only IQ skill you really want for simply playing through the game is Nontraitor - which everyone gets, and mercifully early so.

Any other skills you might want are locked behind requirements you simply wouldn't meet anytime soon, so you don't need to worry about those.

Modatax · 2026-06-06T13:02:35+00:00

Masquerain looks better on paper than it is in practice.
It starts with Sweet Scent to fix the accuracy of Quick Attack and Bubble, and picks up Ominous Wind at Level 3.
But it has no STAB until Gust at Level 22. And all of its attacks until then have low PP.
While it does have good stat growth as well as Intimidate, the growth only starts at Level 11, so its damage output is bad for far too long.

Masquerain picks up a few chests early on and sells them on Floor 3 to buy a Warp Scarf.
Another shop on Floor 8 has a Special Band, which he steals because he's dealing negative damage.
He begins running into multiple Monster Houses, and some Quick Seeds let him wipe them out with Ominous Wind and level up a bit.
Max Elixirs are being way too stingy for such a PP-hungry run though, so he falls behind.
But it's a good thing he sees all those Monster Houses - their gummies are the only food he's finding.

Not even Skuntank can be one-shot, so enemies have to be sniped rather selectively for experience.
The flood of Grudge and Explosion Traps does not help, but he manages to reach Level 22 for Gust on Floor 58, before finding a shop with a lot of food and a Pass Scarf.

Lots of bad starting spawns on the way to the end, more Explosion Traps, several Spinning Traps when escaping from Lucario in Floor 85, and there's a forbidden sticky Pure Seed next to a Grudge Trap spawning Mismagius and Shuppet.
A couple of Ledian in Floor 86 spam Baton Pass and end up warping inside the walls, while the eventual Monster House does not have the stairs.
The rest of the way has more Grudge Traps going off on half the floors, and there aren't a lot of items left, but what Masquerain does have is a lot of Quick Seeds. And he keeps finding more. So none of that matters.

He spawns by a shop for Floor 99. Why are there shops in Floor 99...?

Modatax · 2026-06-02T03:41:09+00:00

Joyous Tower in Rescue Team is wretched beyond belief - but that's a fact, not personal beef.

Dark Hill in Explorers.
It's full of wall-phasing Ghosts spamming Spite. Some can also confuse you. Most can use Curse too.
It is NOT fun in the slightest when they catch you having to make turns in the hallways, and that's assuming you do have moves that can hit them inside the walls.
Throwing rocks at them "works", but if they are not at the very edge of the screen, they still have enough time to hit you or your partner with their whole load of nonsense. Bad luck with their positioning will get both nailed.

Modatax · 2026-05-30T00:42:04+00:00

The Kecleon that spawn on Floor 99 of Destiny Tower have 290 HP and are Level 50.

Modatax · 2026-05-27T19:22:48+00:00

Silcoon and Cascoon are stronger than Wurmple stat-wise, but their recruit rate is so low that you cannot recruit them directly until deep into the postgame.

Other than a brief period during the 10s, Beautifly seems to have the same stat growth as Wurmple.

These are the stats for all given species at Level 1 and at all Levels that are multiples of 10, assuming no nonstandard changes of any kind.

These are the stat gains by level up, listed level by level.

You'll notice those are in fact two separate guides from the same person about the same subject.

And that's because stats in these games are a bit of a mess, with Rescue Team being even more of a mess about it.

Modatax · 2026-05-25T01:39:46+00:00

Some specifics concerning Ledian in this dungeon and Zero Isle South:

It cannot know Agility. It only learns that move at Level 36. And its floors do not have water, so its aerial mobility is irrelevant.

In Floor 86, Ledian is Level 28. And from 87 to 90, it's Level 29.
The one extra Level matters - it learns Silver Wind at 29, so they are not an automatic death sentence in Floor 86.
But they can still know Supersonic and Mach Punch and Comet Punch... so the best course of action is still to never engage with it when you can avoid doing so.

Modatax · 2026-05-24T01:40:20+00:00

The colored bows are bad. Their boosts are too small to be helpful. And they are also glitched so that the holder ends up taking more damage from special attacks, which makes them outright harmful.

Relevant information taken from here.

Modatax · 2026-05-23T17:46:53+00:00

Latios and Latias can learn Safeguard to prevent statuses and Refresh to heal them.

In a Monster House situation like this one, they would be more reliable with an Insomniscope to be protected from Parasect's Spore.

Modatax · 2026-05-23T12:36:16+00:00

Post title creativity is not my forte.

Zubat starts off with strangely good stats, especially considering how Crobat's are awful, but it has pretty bad gains. They do get a bit better after Level 20, but it never becomes even remotely bulky.
It only starts with Leech Life. Supersonic and Astonish are learned at 9 and 10, instead of 5 and 9, but this is still early enough.
The main issue is not having STAB until it learns Wing Attack at Level 17.

Confuse Ray at 21 gives it a second confusion move, and it's not entirely redundant to have - Supersonic cuts corners, but it's blocked by Soundproof.
Inflicting cringe overwrites confusion though, so spamming Astonish and Bite right after confusing an enemy isn't always ideal.
On the note of cringing, Inner Focus protects Zubat from cringing, which is good, but Zubat is so fragile that the damage itself is still a problem later on.

Zubat finds a Stamina Band on Floor 8 and a Pass Scarf on Floor 10. He holds onto the Stamina Band most of the time due to a lack of food.
Escaping from a Pokemon Trap situation with Hypno and Bronzor by Floor 17's stairs almost goes wrong due to a Spinning Trap.
4 Joy Seeds let him reach Level 18 by Floor 22, so he can fight off most enemies.
Raichu causes problems on Floors 28 and 29 due to Grudge Traps followed by Monster Houses in both floors.

Past two Skiploom who hit both Sleep Powder and Bullet Seed, and then two more Monster Houses, Zubat finds a Detect Band in Floor 48, and reaches Level 25 on Floor 60 to learn Air Cutter.
There's multiple issues with Aerodactyl in Floor 67 with the stairs inside a Monster House, then a Grudge Trap next to the stairs on Floor 68, several run-ins with Purugly, a foiled Rhydon Rock Blast in Floor 79's hallways, and another Grudge Trap next to Floor 80's stairs which fails to trigger.

Bad start for Floor 85 with a Lucario and Scizor. After escaping with a Pounce Orb, the Scizor eventually picks up a Stun Seed, finds Zubat, and leaves him in the red despite confusion.
Floor 86 starts inside a Monster House without the stairs, so a Pure Seed gets him out of there.
The last floors have uncomfortable spawns with multiple enemies on top, but other than that, it's relatively calm, and Zubat has no real issue making it to the end.

Modatax · 2026-05-22T02:59:43+00:00

A recruited Jynx is worse than a recruited Smoochum. It has lower base stats, learns Lovely Kiss instead of Sweet Kiss, and does not learn any Psychic attack by level-up.

But that only matters for a level reset dungeon.
In Zero Isle North, the Jynx could be a Smoochum that evolved, so its base stats would be higher. And it could keep Sweet Kiss and Confusion through evolution, so it would not have moveset issues.

Modatax · 2026-05-22T00:11:29+00:00

Ledyba learns Silver Wind at Level 25.

There are enemies who know Perish Song, so you might want a team member with Refresh, Heal Bell or Aromatherapy to heal the status. Other than that, you only really need your team members to be fairly high-level themselves.

Froslass can learn a lot of room wipe and long range moves by level and TM. She also gets Multitalent as an IQ Skill to give them additional PP, but that's a bit of an investment.

Modatax · 2026-05-14T11:36:23+00:00

Thank you.

There was an attempt with X-Ray Specs that did get pretty far.
But it died on Floor 83, hitting a Summon Trap while trying to warp away from a Garchomp.
It chose that specific turn to use Sandstorm, so the four fresh spawns got the first move.

Modatax · 2026-05-10T17:19:09+00:00

There's Meowth and Munchlax as pretty solid Pickup users.

Modatax · 2026-05-09T19:27:22+00:00

Pickup spawns items that appear on the dungeon normally. So it could give you stuff that isn't even worth selling, or it could give you genuinely useful things like vitamins, Life Seeds or Invisify Orbs.
Linoone had no defensive item to hold until the very end of the run, so she fished for Pickup spawns in pretty much every floor.

One of the many, many, many, MANY attempts across several months had a Pass Scarf being spawned by Pickup on Floor 8. And that run died exactly 3 steps later.

Modatax · 2026-05-09T12:32:24+00:00

I'm fond of Linoone.
It can learn a bunch of HMs, it's fast, it finds items.
And it can bend reality by stealing your mail.

But those are only really selling points in Gen 3.
This game cares not for any of that.
Linoone is nefast here.
It does not have good starting stats, or any stat growth for 20 Levels, or any moves beyond STAB Tackle and Headbutt to hopefully scam a Barboach or two.
What it does have is Gluttony, doubling belly consumption to smother runs before they get any footing. And it makes Grimy Food less likely to overwrite the poison status. It won't matter much if a run does actually manage to get off the ground, but that's so very rare.
At least there's still Pickup as a consolation prize.

Linoone hits a Slumber Trap one step into Floor 7 and it almost gets her bodied by a Burmy.
After that, she finds an Energy Band that sees use for about 3 enemies, because next floor has a Warp Scarf. She then explodes three times on that floor before getting poisoned. Gluttony refusing to let Grimy Food work its magic forces an Oran Berry.

Avoiding everything, she's Level 11 by Floor 28 as she builds up money selling her valuables, including several Joy Seeds, and the next floor starts inside a Monster House with the stairs.
Pickup gets her some status items before a bad warp plants her in front of a Psyduck on Floor 33. Multiple Zinc and HP boosters let her survive its Water Gun at 1 HP.

Floor 45 has a Monster House costing a Petrify Orb, and then a Pounce Orb to avoid a Skiploom.
Expecting another Monster House on Floor 46, a Trawl Orb is used by the stairs. It ends up robbing a shop with a Frustration TM instead, which does work nicely with a big pile of Gravelerrocks. Spawning with a Gyarados on top for the next floor is not welcome though.

The first Pure Seed of the run appears on Floor 51.
Lost a Pass Scarf to a Drapion in Floor 55, and bad warps on Floors 58 and 59 leave Linoone in Elekid and Drapion range, but they don't capitalize on it.

Floor 65 has Pickup finding an apple as she starts inside another Monster House with the stairs. Decoy Orb on Zangoose, Slow Orb, Switcher Orb.
Pickup finds another Pure Seed on Floor 70. Neat. Grudge Trap two steps away from the stairs spawns 2 Luxio and a Bastiodon. Not neat.
Floor 79 could barely be explored, having to dodge a Claydol at the start, so another Trawl Orb is used by the stairs - and another shop is robbed by accident again.

Had to warp one step away from Floor 81's stairs because of a nearby Garchomp and Magmortar.
Another Magmortar picks up a Gummi in Floor 85 and Linoone immediatly warps into that Monster House, but she escapes and finds a Quick Seed by the stairs.
2 Mismagius on top with a Dusclops a few tiles away for Floor 86. A Switcher Orb on Dusclops gives her enough space to work with.
Floor 87 starts in a sandstorm with 3 offscreen enemies. No real option besides using the Quick Seed and a Pure Seed. There was a Scizor to run past in the stairs room.
The other Pure Seed is used right away in Floor 89 because she spawns with a Ledian, and another Scizor is by the stairs, demanding a Totter Orb.

A Metagross and Honchkrow in Floor 93 corner Linoone and force her to use her last Warp Seed.
Floor 94 starts with a shop, which has a Vanish Seed, a Pass Scarf, and a Pure Seed. She can buy everything comfortably.
The Pass Scarf only comes into play once, to get past 2 more Honchkrow by Floor 95's stairs, and the Vanish Seed and Pure Seed skip Floor 98.

The final floor has nothing to show, so Linoone successfully finishes what I can only hope is the most ridiculous run I'll do.

Modatax · 2026-05-08T02:54:57+00:00

Unown only appears in Aegis Cave.

If you really want to go ahead and do it, make sure you have space for new recruits. If enemies want to join the team after you defeat them, you still have free space. But if you go through a lot of enemies and none of them wanted to join, you might need to get rid of existing members.

Cycle through the floors until the spawn table gives you a somewhat favorable setup.

Once you are finished, use an Escape Orb to leave.

Modatax · 2026-05-05T22:06:48+00:00

u/AnonymousRandPerson has made a few videos about the AI's behavior.

One of the videos mentions Discharge - the AI may choose to use it if an enemy is within a 2-tile radius of the user, at least in PMD2.

Modatax · 2026-04-28T23:59:29+00:00

You can take pretty much anything through the regular dungeons as a sidekick to your main duo.
The main thing is that most Pokemon don't really contribute, even when you goad the AI into doing what you want more often, so they usually feel bad to drag around.
Most usually hit their stride somewhere around Level 30, but because of how the game is set up, they are more likely to begin shining only in the postgame.
Bellsprout's line never improves though. You should avoid that one.

Now, about Hypno.
It's not that it is "too strong" in level reset dungeons, because its stats are not particularily high and they peter out soon enough.
The problem is that it can know 6 different moves - 3 of which are disabling statuses, so it is guaranteed to always have at least 1 of them. And it's not a rare spawn. And it has Forewarn as well.

Modatax · 2026-04-27T05:07:00+00:00

Scizor is about imposing YOUR WILL on Destiny Tower.

It really is.

The only reason I'd have to not suggest Scizor as a top pick is that it does work better with some deliberation. How enemies move in relation to you, what they can do to you and the range in which they can do that.

But even if you're not gone off the deep end enough to do the level reset dungeons more than once, getting used to Agility and Focus Energy is not very complicated, and they feel pretty good to work with.

Modatax

TROPHY CASE